AED BILLS MOVE FORWARD

Two bills in the California State Legislature addressing the issue of AEDs (defibrillators) in commercial buildings passed the Senate Judiciary Committee this week and will head to the Senate Floor.

SB 658 Hill – Addresses onerous training requirements. We testified in support of this bill which is intended to reform requirements that need to be met in order to for a property owner to receive limited liability protections under the law. Our members have let us know this is a priority as it is the main reason that AEDs are not more widespread.

This bill passed committee on a bi-partisan 7-0 vote with all Democrats and Republicans supporting the measure.

SB 287 Hueso – Mandates installations in New Buildings with 200+ Occupancy. We testified in opposition to this bill for a number of reasons, but most importantly we do not believe the state should mandate these devices when it knows that property owners currently cannot comply with many of the issues addressed in AB 658.

This bill passed committee with the minimum number of votes needed, 4-2. Both Republicans on the committee opposed the measure and one Democrat chose not to vote.

We will continue to work with both authors and hope that we can work out some of the technical issues related to building occupancy related to SB 287.